A businessman from Bengaluru who reportedly owes about Rs 12 crore to the taxman was caught trying to flee India from the Mumbai airport on Monday. 

The Income Tax Department did not reveal the identity of the businessman but said he was intercepted by the tax recovery officer at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport around 2.30 am. Tax sleuths had been closely following him as he owes Rs 11.94 crore in income tax and penalty arrears plus interest, the department said in a statement. 

Besides defaulting on tax dues, the businessman is also accused of illegally transferring a property situated at Yeshwantpur, Bengaluru. As per Rule 73 of the second schedule to the Income Tax Act, if a defaulter transfers his/her property after the service of ITCP-1, the certificate may be executed by his/her arrest and detention. The statutory provision in Rule 16 prohibiting the transfer of any property by the defaulter without the permission of the tax recovery officer is a stringent offence and the defaulter must face the consequences of his willful violation, the release stated. 

The tax recovery officer can take recourse to one or more ways to recover the money specified under section 222 of the Income Tax Act read with the rules laid down in the second schedule as under: (a) attachment and sale of movable property, (b) attachment and sale of immovable property, (C) arrest and detention in prison and (D) appointing a receiver to manage a defaulter's business. 

The businessman was produced before the Tax Recovery Officer-6, Bengaluru, on Tuesday. The officer heard him out but the latter failed to make satisfactory arrangement for payment of the tax arrears. Accordingly, he was sent the Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara for six months, the release stated.